Harry and Ginny: The Only Hope For Me Is You
by AdrienneXX
Summary: Re-done! Title credit to the My Chemical Romance song. Harry and Ginny recovering from the war. Post-DH, Pre-Epiloge. Molly, not Fred, dies at the battle, and now Ginny and Harry must begin their recovery.
1. Chapter 1 - Mum is Dead

**Hello again everyone! Here is the first chapter of the new, re-done The Only Hope For Me Is You! Thank you to everyone who has been following the story. I've had some requests for changes, so I will be trying to incorporate them as well! Please let me know what you think! XOXO, Adrienne**

* * *

Ginny stood silently next to her father and brothers, shocked to her core. She couldn't understand, couldn't comprehend her mother's white, lifeless body lying on the long table next to Remus and Tonks'. Her mother, her strong, beautiful, loving mother - dead. She'd never hear Mum's voice calling them all to dinner…handing out chores…scolding the twins…whispering soothing words like only a mother could…Ginny felt herself choke out a sob, and raised her hands to her mouth, tears flooding. She fell to her knees, resting her forehead on the edge of the table, feeling sobs tear through her. She felt someone – one of the boys, probably – lean down next to her, wrapping her up in a hug, but the only person she wanted a hug from right now would never again give her one.

She wasn't sure how long she stayed there. Eventually, her sobs quieted to a silent waterfall of tears and deep, shuddering breaths, and then slowly stopped. She had never been one to cry for long. When the sun rose, bathing the hall in an unfittingly rosy glow, she sniffed, trying to compose herself. She stood up, her legs shaking from lack of blood as she did so. She felt her head spin at the sudden movement, but ignored it. She was strong. Mum would want her to be strong. She looked around for the first time, wiping the last few tears away.

Dad was sitting in a chair by Mum's head, staring at her in shock. He seemed void, emotionless; she felt her heart drop again. She couldn't imagine what this was doing to him. Bill was standing nearby, stoking Fleur's hair softly, both watching her closely, as if expecting her to break down again. The rest of the boys were gone. She swallowed down her grief – the war may have been over, but the recovery was just beginning, and Merlin knew it would be a battle in and of itself.

"Where is everyone?" She said, her voice hoarse and cracking.

"Outside," Bill said quietly after a moment. "People are arriving, to claim the..."

"Bodies," She said, her voice hard and cold. She stared over the room, at all of the fallen, those who had given their lives for the Light. It seemed so cruel, that they had made it so far, but didn't live to see the end. And more were still dying, too, from injuries. She silently thanked Merlin that her mother had felt no pain. There were 72 dead so far, many of them her friends and members of her DA. It was a terrible end to a terrible war.

Someone had draped the bodies in thick, black sheets. Ginny tried to take a deep breath, and she noticed an older woman a few years older than her mother had been sobbing at Tonks' side. Recognizing her, gasping at her similarity to Bellatrix Ginny felt her heart break yet again for the woman in front of her. Acting on impulse, she stepped towards the small brown-haired woman. She remembered the Potter Watch report saying that her husband had been killed by Death Eaters several months ago.

"Mrs. Tonks," She said quietly, but Andromeda didn't reply. Ginny hadn't really expected her to, and she kneeled next to the sobbing woman, wrapping an arm around her. She tried to think of something to say, but what could you say to a woman who had lost so much? So she just sat there, hoping her presence would be a small comfort, determined not to let this woman be alone. Yes, she'd have Teddy, but Ginny promised herself she wouldn't let this poor woman's family drop to only one other person. After several hours of sitting silently next to Andromeda, the older woman finally looked at Ginny, tears pouring down her face.

"I just don't know how I can carry on without her," Andromeda said, her voice shaky. Ginny felt her eyes fill with tears to at the thought of the woman she had considered her older sister.

"None of us do," She whispered. "But they would have wanted us to find a way." Andromeda nodded, smiling weakly.

* * *

Ginny walked down to the grounds with her family, staring at the trampled, red-stained grass. Charlie had an arm wrapped around her. Bill was supporting Dad, who was staring ahead unseeingly, while the twins followed behind, silent for the first time in their lives. Ron, as usual, was with Harry and Hermione, the three of them staring around at the destruction, the latter two looking uncomfortable, as if they were intruding. If it had been some other situation, Ginny would have rolled her eyes; you'd think they'd have learnt by now that they were part of the family.

Kingsley had arranged a portkey for them, and as the ten of them held on to it, it was painfully aware to each that their matriarch was being left behind. When their feet hit the dirt lane leading to the Burrow with a thump, they walked wordlessly into the wards, staring at the house that they hadn't seen in almost a month. The "golden trio" hadn't seen it in almost a year; Bill'd had to show them the piece of paper Dad'd written the address on just so they could get through the fidelius charm.

As soon as they entered the kitchen, Ginny decided she'd have to give the place a good scrub down. It was what Mum would have wanted, after all. She wanted to scrub away the pain of the war…but part of her was worried it would scrub away the memories of Mum. It was painful, standing in Mum's kitchen, surrounded by memories of her, but Ginny pushed through it, focusing on the job at hand. She cast a scourgify charm over the room quickly, getting rid of the visible dust. It would have to do for now; at least she knew it was clean.

Dad had already disappeared upstairs, and nobody was sure of what to do. Looking around, Ginny decided that someone had to take charge. She was, after all, officially the Weasley matriarch now; Fleur could have stepped up to the position, but she wanted to be the one to follow in her Mum's footsteps - though she no longer had any quarrels with her sister-in-law, it didn't feel right to give Fleur that position.

"Ron, go get vegetables from the garden. You two can help," She added to the twins, deciding that the three of them looked most uncomfortable. Everyone stared at her, and she got annoyed and uncomfortable. Yes, she was the youngest there, but someone had to step up. She was sick of feeling helpless, of feeling like she had no control. "Now!" She snapped, and they exchanged glances, but did so without comment. "Someone needs to go strip all the beds and bring all the bedding down," She said, thinking out loud.

"I can do that," Hermione said, seeming anxious to help. Ginny smiled at her friend thankfully, and nodded.

"Thanks," she said, thinking of what else needed to be done. "All the windows need opening, and someone needs to make sure no doxies or boggarts or anything have moved in…and I guess we should get the ghoul out of Ron's room, too."

"I'll deal with the ghoul," Harry muttered, and Ginny looked at him for the first time since the battle, for the first time in almost a year. Her heart did the same flip-flops it always did when he was around, but it also clenched as the hurt and anger of their break-up and his leaving came to the surface. He looked so much different, but so painfully the same; his messy hair was even messier than usual, cut jaggedly and overgrown, and his extraordinary eyes showed wisdom and pain that made her heart ache. She desperately wanted to give him a hug and tell him it would all be alright, but she didn't know where things stood between them. She had missed him horribly, but she was still furious, and he hadn't forgiven him for the pain he caused her, or his apparent lack of faith in her skills.

"I'll check the rest of the house," Charlie offered, and the two men went off upstairs.

"I'm going to check on Dad," Bill told her when they, Fleur, and Percy were the only ones left.

"And I will give zee bathrooms a queek clean," Fleur said. Ginny smiled at them gratefully, before turning to Percy, who looked vaguely uncomfortable but completely and utterly guilty and heartbroken. Ginny realized suddenly how horrible it must feel to have Mum die after you'd been so horrible to her for almost three years. She didn't know what to do to help, though. She hadn't forgiven him, but she couldn't bring herself to be mean.

"Could you help me, Perce?" She asked, and he nodded wordlessly, and got up to help her make dinner.

* * *

Ginny was standing outside, staring up at the moon, when she heard the door behind her open. She spun around, heart in her throat, wand out, when Harry stepped out. She let out a deep breath. "Sorry," She muttered, and he waved the apology off, coming to stand next to her. She turned her attention back to the sky, trying to ignore her racing heart.

"Ginny," Harry whispered, and before Ginny could fully comprehend what she was doing, she pulled Harry down to her and kissed him. He seemed shocked, but after a moment he kissed her back, wrapping her up in his arms.

"I'm still mad at you," she whispered breathlessly, pulling away from him, and staring into his emerald eyes. "For leaving, and for being dead, and…and for everything."

"And I'm still mad at you for being at the battle and for not staying safe," He said in a low voice, staring straight back at her.

"Fine," She whispered, feeling her brain getting muddled under his gaze.

"Fine," He whispered back, before pulling her back to him and kissing her soundly.


	2. Chapter 2 - A New Day

p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" Ginny didn't sleep that night. There were too many thoughts spinning around her head to succumb to sleep, even without the nightmares that had plagued her dreams for years now. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" The final battle had been gruesome and gory. Lavender Brown's body had been mutilated by Greyback in front of her very eyes, and Ron's ex-girlfriend was one of many. After Voldemort's summoning of Harry into the Forest, she had run outside, hoping to find him and stop him, but the dying people, too far gone to hold on to hope, had stopped her. For what had felt like eons, she had tried to comfort and sooth the dying, and then she and others had unceremoniously tried to carry the corpses into the Great Hall. There were so many bodies; mutilated and torn apart by spells and actions alike, both before and after their former owners had meet their painful ends. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" She still remembered the noises of the castle…the screams of pain, of anger…people screaming out spells, or warnings, or shouting the names of the people they loved in anguish...and the smells; the stenches of blood and death had filled the castles, seeming to hang in the air like smoke. Then of course the burning rubber smell of the fires, and the dusty broken stone and rubble, and the surreal smell of the grass from the lawn as people trekked in and out./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" Whenever she closed her eyes, she saw death. She wondered vaguely if Harry ever felt this way. For months after he had rescued her from the Chamber back in her first year, she hadn't been able to sleep without her dreamless sleep potion. She had avoided her family, too, out of guilt and embarrassment. She pondered about why she didn't seclude herself now…she supposed because this was too raw. Being possessed, even by someone as vile as You-Know-Who himself, seemed like nothing compared to the last year, even though it was more personal, and more violating. She mulled it over, and realized it was because it had happened to her. It was easy to accept her first year rather than everything Harry had gone through over his lifetime; she understood it, and it happened to her. She was far more comfortable dealing with it personally rather than try to figure out how to act normally around people that were going through tough times but also be sensitive. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" But, as selfish as it made her feel, it wasn't the Battle she was thinking about. It was her family. Her mother's death, yes, but she was consciously trying not to think about Mum. It was just…too painful. She wanted to face her Mum's death when she was ready to devote herself fully, both mentally and emotionally – Mum deserved that. So, she swallowed her guilt, and pushed it aside./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" Her immediate concern was Dad. She couldn't imagine Dad without Mum; it just didn't make sense. Dad and Mum, Mum and Dad…they were a team. One didn't happen without the other. They just…didn't. As she lay in bed, she realized that Dad's life had just been turned completely upside down, even more so than her own. For the first time ever, he'd be living alone. Not immediately, of course; she'd be here, and even if Hogwarts reopened, and then if she decided to go back, she seriously doubted Ron would go back, and she was sure she wasn't the only one of her siblings who would be making Dad their priority. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" She didn't like thinking about Percy's situation, how horrible he must be feeling. She was afraid of being empathetic – it was just…icky. She felt sick, imagining walking out on her family, being such an ass for almost three years, and then barely reuniting with your family only for your mother to be murdered in cold blood in front of your very eyes. She decided to try to figure out a way to help Percy…but she couldn't think of anything. So, for now, she put that out of her mind, too. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" She wondered if she'd ever find out what Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been up to over the last year. She wondered if it even mattered. They had left…but with good reason…but they could have taken her with them!...at least she had been able to help at Hogwarts…and at least she had spent the time she had with Mum. She'd always cherish that…But she deserved to go with them! She had done just as much in the last few years as Ron had! She was just as good at dueling! She groaned; it was too confusing. She had so many conflicting emotions, and she was too exhausted to work through it all. Physically, mentally…it had been a long three years./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "Gin – Ginny! Come on, it's time to wake up," Charlie was saying, and Ginny shot upright, grabbing her wand from the bedside table, breathing heavily. She hadn't realized she had fallen asleep. She nodded to Charlie, who smiled sympathetically at her and then walked out of her room. She fell back in the bed, trying to slow her breathing. She stared around the room, now bathed in sunlight, despite the thin pink curtains. It seemed so innocent, so naive; the pale pink walls, the posters of Gwenog Jones and the rest of the Holyhead Harpies. It seemed stupid, how defensive she had gotten when she had defended the all-girls team to her brothers. It had seemed so important, proving girls were just as good as boys. What did it matter now?/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" Her bedding and her pillows were pink, too, with little pale purple and yellow flowers. Her parents had always been so excited to finally buy girl things; they must have been disappointed when she would come in just as muddy and dirty as the boys. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" The room was small, though that didn't really bother Ginny anymore. Her bed was pushed against the wall farthest from the door, and a wardrobe against the adjoining on, across from the window. She had a desk in front of the window, overflowing with various pieces of parchment, broken quills, and old textbooks. She forced herself out of bed, ignoring the familiar ache that came with little sleep and not eating well, and flung open the crooked doors of the wardrobe. She leafed through the various shirts, shorts, and dresses, sighing angrily. None of these clothes would fit anymore, and second-hand clothes like hers didn't hold up well under tailoring charms. Giving up, she grabbed an old dress, deciding in was in good enough shape. She slung it over her arm, grabbing some underwear too, and went crossed the hall to the bathroom, which was thankfully empty. She locked the door (a lesson learnt long, long ago) and striped off her clothes from yesterday, stepping into the shower. Since she was the last on up, there was – of course – no hot water left. Trying to ignore the freezing cold, she cleaned herself up as quickly as possible (shaving for the first time in weeks, after deciding she needed a new beginning), and jumped out. She cast a quick warming charm on her towel, wrapping it around her gratefully. She noticed she had managed to knick her legs several times, and swore quietly. Healing herself, she toweled off and pulled on her clothes. She brushed her teeth, half-heartedly ran a brush through her long hair. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" Throwing her dirty clothes in her room, not really caring where they ended up, she went back downstairs. Everyone else – even Dad, though he didn't seem very present mentally – was seated around the kitchen table, talking quietly. When she sat down in the middle of the twins, Bill nodded to her and stood up to speak. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "We need a plan," He said, and everyone quieted to listen to him./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "Yes," came Dad's hoarse voice. Everyone turned to stare at him in surprise. "We do." Dad cleared his throat. "Mum and I talked about what would happen if…if what happened happened," He said. Ginny was glad he was speaking, but she almost wanted him to stop – his voice seemed cold, dead. He seemed to want to say more, but nonetheless fell silent. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "We need to plan Mum's funeral," Bill said, and the pain in his eyes and voice was obvious. Fleur reached out and held his hand, and Ginny saw him squeeze it gratefully. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "It should be here," Ginny said. She had been thinking about it, and it just didn't feel right for Mum to be buried in the Ottery St. Catchpole cemetery. They barely ever went into the town. Mum was the Burrow, and the Burrow was Mum; it was only right. "It's not…it should be here." She turned red as she noticed everyone staring at her. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "Gin's right," Fred said, and Ginny sent him a grateful glance as he put an arm around her. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "Yeah, Mum should be buried here," George agreed. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "It's what she'd want," Fred pointed out. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "She was always happiest here," Charlie murmured in a low voice. "Around her family." Dad nodded once, though Ginny saw his eyes were full of tears. Percy and Ron nodded their agreement too, and Hermione and Harry looked comfortable, and Fleur was smiling softly. Bill nodded./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "When?" He said, and everyone was silent. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "Thursday is the seventh," Ron put in out of nowhere. With everyone else, Ginny turned to stare at him, and Ron turned red. "And there's seven of us…" Ron muttered, and Bill cleared his throat. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "Sure," He said quietly. "The seventh sounds…that works." There was silence in the kitchen as everyone tried to come to grips with the fact that this was real; they were burying Molly Weasley. She was gone. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "We'll bury her in the flower garden," Dad spoke up, his voice still heavy with his loss. "In the morning."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "Andromeda told me that Remus and Tonks were going to be buried in the muggle cemetery where she lives. It's were Ted is, and since the wizarding world never really welcomed Remus anyway…" Harry trailed off, turning pink as everyone turned to look at him. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "Did she say when?" Charlie asked. "I'd like to be there." Ginny remembered suddenly that Tonks had been Charlie's friend back when he was at Hogwarts. They'd hadn't been close like Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but more like her and Colin… Colin, who was dead too. Ginny swallowed the lump in her throat. How many people had died through the war? Tonks was like her sister…hopefully, she hadn't seen Remus die. That would have broken her heart. But maybe she had; maybe poor Teddy's parents had seen each other die and known their son would be left an orphan. It must have been terrifying for them; the ultimate torture. Ginny swore to herself that Teddy would grow up loved. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "Saturday, I think," Harry said. "I'm going too."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "Me too," Ginny said immediately. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "We'll all go," Dad said, cutting off everyone else's agreements. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "Lavender Brown's funeral is on Sunday," Hermione said quietly. "Her parents told me before we left. I think we should go, Ron."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "Why?" Harry said in confusion. "They broke up ages ago. Doesn't she, like, hate him?" Hermione thumbed him on the back of the head, and Ginny smiled despite herself. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "Because it'd be nice for him to go pay his respects, even if they did break up," Hermione scolded her friend. "And even though we were never close, we did live together for six years."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "I think you should go," Ginny said, nodding her head. Hermione smiled at her support, and nodded. Ron shrugged. "Colin's funeral is that day too."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "Creevey?" Harry said, sitting up straight. She nodded, and Harry paled. The next half hour consisted of the rather morbid conversations of whose funeral was when, until eventually they all fled the grief and disappeared to various parts of the house. Harry had gone out for a walk, and with Hermione's encouragement Ron followed him./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "I think I should go to muggle London," Hermione said as both girls sat down on Ginny's bed. Ginny waved her wand, and a camp bed appeared in its' usual place. Hermione had always slept in her room, and the girls had become close friends over the years. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "Why?" Ginny said, surprised. Hermione shrugged. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "I need to buy some clothes. At the very least, something black. I don't really have anything appropriate for…" Ginny nodded in understanding, staring at her closet of too-small clothes. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "Me neither," she muttered. She glanced at the clock on the wall; it was almost noon. "We should go make lunch," She said, though she didn't feel very hungry. "None of my brothers know how to cook." Hermione laughed, but it sounded empty, strained. As they walked downstairs, Ginny wondered if they'd ever recover from the war. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" The vegetables Ron and the twins had scavenged from the garden the day before needed to be washed and cleaned, but without going to the shops yet there was not meat in the house. Ginny bit her lip, trying to decide what to make that would satisfy the hunger of eleven grown witches and wizards, when a sudden crack made her jump. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "Kreacher!" Breathed Hermione in relief, and Ginny groaned. Why was she so jumpy today? She was home, You-Know-Who was dead - wasn't she supposed to be able to relax now?/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "Kreachers brings food for misses," the old house elf croaked. Ginny stared at him for a second - how had he known they needed food? But then she smiled. This was the first thing all day that had gone well. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" "Thanks, Kreacher," she said warmly, taking in the baskets that he had magicked onto the kitchen table. "That's wonderful. Really, thank you." Kreacher looked at her hestitantly, but then nodded and disappeared. Ginny went over to the table and looked in the baskets. There was bread, cheese, fruit, eggs, milk, ham, chicken, even potions ingrediants - more than she had dared to hope for. She beamed at Hermione - maybe the end of the war wouldn't be a life of misery and guilt after all. Maybe the world could still grow, planting the seeds of prosperity in the lieu of sacrifice. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px;"_/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" Harry sat with his back against a tree overlooking the creek at the end of the Weasley's property. Ron sat a few meters away, looking uncomfortable as he turned his wand over in his fingers, occasionally casting a spell on the grass. Harry's thought's were a jumbled mess; he was too mentally exhausted to even begin to understand them. He was tired, and he still didn't really believe that the war was over. How many more death eaters were out there? What if they targeted the Weasleys or someone else in retaliation of his defeat over Tom? /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" And in the back of his mind, buried under his fears for the future and his regrets from the past, Harry missed his parents and Sirius and now Remus more than ever. He had seen them, had been almost able to touch them - for a second, he thought he would be able to join them. He was glad, of course, to be alive...be a tiny part of him was sad about it. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" As he looked over the fish and the insects playing in the creek, his thoughts turned to a fiery red haired which, and he smirked slightly. It didn't surprise him one bit that she had taken control, bossing around her big brothers. Ginny was the type of girl that saw a problem and fixed it, never mind waiting for someone else to take charge. He had missed her the past year; not a day had gone by that he hadn't wished he was back at Hogwarts, sneaking out of the common room for some snogging. He wondered what she'd be doing now - what any of them would do now. How could they move on? He'd been so focused on winning the war, he'd never really considered what would happen if it actually happened. What did he want to do? Go back to Hogwarts? Could he really do that after all the memories of the war?/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" He didn't know the answers. He didn't know how to put his life back together - he wasn't even sure there was a life to put back. His whole life had been about defeating Voldemort; it had been the only reason he was alive since he was a baby. What was it Snape had said? "A pig raised for slaughter"...what did he do now? Was it possible for someone like him, a marked man, to go back and have a real life? Was he capable of love, of having normal relationships, after all he'd been through, or had he served his purpose, left now to fade into the background? /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" So Harry just sat silently in the shade of the tree, watching the sun dance on the water below. /span/p 


End file.
